NBR for broadcast hype for revenue boost

FE Report

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) moved for a broadcast hype targeting a much-needed raise in government revenues, which were initially a little short of the target.

In a meeting with radio operators Wednesday the revenue authority sought cooperation of the private radio stations in building revenue-raising awareness by airing revenue documentaries, advertising, news bulletins and revenue dialogues.

Senior Secretary of Internal Resources Division (IRD) and NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman sought the cooperation from chief executives of the radio stations at the meeting held on the NBR premises.

Representatives of the Ministry of Information, the Directorate of Information, Bangladesh Betar, Bangladesh Television and the Directorate of Mass Communication attended the meeting.

The NBR chair requested the radio stations to broadcast income tax, value-added tax (VAT) and customs-related awareness programmes as partners of the NBR.

The chief executives of the radio stations assured the NBR chief of "all-out cooperation" in broadcasting the revenue-related programmes to help gear up ongoing campaigns.

For the fiscal year 2016-17, the government has set an overall target of revenue collection at Tk 2.03 trillion.

Meanwhile, income-tax collection in the first quarter of the current fiscal fell short of an even curtailed target by Tk 12.43 billon. The income-tax wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) collected Tk 106.90 billion in the July-September period against its target of Tk 119.34 billion.

However, the receipts posted a 12.42 per cent growth in the first three months under review compared to that of the same period in previous fiscal.

The revenue officials, however, hold the hope that the collection would increase significantly in the second quarter as a large number of individual taxpayers will submit tax returns by November 30--the cutoff time for paying the tax.

Editor : A.H.M Moazzem Hossain

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